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Clip description
Little Bertie the Aeroplane is only a youngster really, but ‘boy can he fly’. As he flies through the sky and leapfrogs over mountains, a voice-over narrates the story of how Bertie solves the mystery of flying saucers. Flying into a storm and emerging scared, but unscathed, Bertie is chased by flying saucers. Bertie decides to catch them because the ‘whole world wants to know their secret’. That secret is that the saucers are full of Aeroplane jellies.
As Bertie sings the Aeroplane Jelly song, a table display of desserts made from Aeroplane Jelly is shown. The voice-over explains that the famous quick-setting jelly is economical, delicious, will be enjoyed by the whole family and contains glucose.
Curator’s notes
Creating a lovable cartoon character in Bertie the Aeroplane is one of the reasons that Aeroplane Jelly has become such an identifiable product. The animation, along with the famous jingle, makes this advertisement memorable.
Cinema advertisements before the coming of television commonly ran for over two minutes. This length allows for greater development of the characters that become associated with the product being marketed. The character of Bertie can also be seen in the 1954 Aeroplane Jelly ad Bertie the Jet where Bertie – the crowd favourite – takes part in a popularity race around Australia.
